NHS England: The future of Freedom to Speak Up (16 April 2026)

Summary

Following a recommendation from the Review of patient safety across the health and care landscape, the National Guardian’s Office will close on the 30 June 2026. Subsequently, NHS England will deliver some activities previously undertaken by this body. This will be accompanied by increased reasonability and accountability for embedding effective Freedom to Speak Up arrangements sitting with individual healthcare organisations. This document sets out the revised responsibilities for Freedom to Speak Up across the NHS.

Content

Under the new arrangements, NHS England will:

• support existing guardian networks and individual guardians, including managing general enquiries through the national contact centre and escalating specialist queries to the NHS England Freedom to Speak Up team
• provide and maintain the platform for free online guardian foundation training 
• collect Freedom to Speak Up data nationally and use both qualitative and quantitative insights to strengthen system learning. Insight will be shared routinely with guardian networks
• review national Freedom to Speak Up policy and guidance across all sectors, starting with primary care organisations 

NHS healthcare providers and commissioners will:

• have sole responsibility for ensuring that information about how to contact their Freedom to Speak Up guardian is kept accurate, made publicly available and is accessible 
• routinely submit their Freedom to Speak Up data through NHS England’s national data collection system (for 2026/27, this will be trusts and ICBs only) 
• ensure that any guardian they appoint completes the mandatory guardian foundation training before starting their role and support their continuing professional development
• ensure appropriate psychological support is available for their guardians once the nationally sourced independent Employee Assistance Programme ends on 31 December 2026